Apparatus for separating signatures in a gatherer

ABSTRACT

A SIGNATURE GATHERER FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BOOKS OR BOOKLETS WITH GATE-FOLDED PAGES WHICH INCLUDES A BI-DIRECTIONAL ROTARY DISC SEPARATOR FOR SEPARATING SIGNATURES AT THEIR FOLDED CORNERS, WHETHER STACKED FOR FEEDING GATEFOLDED OR STANDARD-FOLDED SIGNATURES.

NOV. 7, 172 Q v HAGEMAN ETAL 3,762,187

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SIGNATURES IN A GATHERER Filed Aug. 13, 1971 4Sheets-Sheet l NOV. 7, 1972 c v HAGEMAN ET AL 3,702,187

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SIGNATURES IN A GATHERER Filed Aug. 13, 1971 4Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS NOV. 7, 1972 c v AN ET AL APPARATUS FOR SEPARATINGSIGNATURES IN A GATHERER Filed Aug. 15, 1971 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.4

NOV. 7, 1972 Q v HAGEMAN ET AL 3,702,187

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SIGNATURES IN A GATHERER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FiledAug. 13, 1971 United States Patent Oflice 3,702,187 Patented Nov. 7,1972 US. Cl. 271-29 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A signaturegatherer for the production of books or booklets with gate-folded pageswhich includes a bi-directional rotary disc separator for separatingsignatures at their folded corners, whether stacked for feedinggatefolded or standard-folded signatures.

This invention relates to signatures gathering machines and, moreparticularly, to a rotary lifter separator for separating successivelowermost signatures from a stack of signatures in a stack hopper.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is acontinuation-in-part of co-pending US. application Ser. No. 45,010,filed June 10, 1970, now Pat. No. 3,650,525.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Rotary disc separators for various types ofsheet-like material such as signatures or envelopes have been used toseparate individual sheets or folded signatures from the bottom of astack. Their primary function is to positively physically separate thebottom items from the remainder of the stack in order to present it togrippers or rollers which carry it away from the stack and deposit it ona moving conveyor. An example of such a separator is shown in US. Pat.2,020,321 to Kleineberg. One of the problems with the Kleineberg type ofdevice was its inability to feed gate-folds, i.e., signatures with theirfolds on the side remote from those in a stack having standard folds.For best and most positive results, the disc separator should enterbetween the bottom signature and the remainder of the stack at a corneralong the folded side of the stack, to assure separating completesignatures. The Kleineberg separator can Work only on one corner of thestack, because of the small diameter of the disc, and because of theangle at which the disc axis is inclined with respect to the signatures.If provision were tobe made for feeding gate-folds with the Kleinebergdevice, it would be necessary to duplicate opposite-handed discseparator mechanisms at two adjacent corners, thus increasing the costand complexity of the mechanism, as well as necessitating provision forinactivating one separator while using the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforementioned co-pending parentapplication discloses a signature separator for the bottom signature ofa stack which rotates on a substantially vertical axis parallel to twoadjacent corners of a stack of signatures. The rotary disc is providedwith an interrupted portion or segment in its periphery, and is solocated with respect to a feeding side of the stack whereby that side ofthe bottom of the stack is always supported by the disc. Sucker means isarranged to grip the lowermost signature near its folded corner, pull itdownwardly, and permit a lead edge of the disc adjacent the interruptedportion to enter into the space provided by the pulled-down lowermostsignature. Shortly after the lead edge enters, the trailing edgeadjacent the interrupted portion exits from the stack. A cam surface onthe underside of the disc urges the separated signature downwardlywithin the grasp of grippers on a rotating drum, and the drum gripperstake the separated edge of the lowermost signature and transport it to aconveyor pusher. In conventional fashion the conveyor carries anassembly of signatures from each of a plurality of feeding stations to abinding section, which may be in the form of a gluer for binding oneedge of the assembled booklet.

As noted above, it is frequently desired to produce gatefolded booklets,i.e., booklets with some larger pages which have folded edges at theopen face of the book. To this end, the said co-pending applicationdiscloses a bidirectional disc which may be rotated in either directionand which is of a dimension relative to the dimensions of the signaturesthat the disc may enter the stack from either corner. In accordance withthis invention, gate-folds are accommodated by a selectivelypositionable rotary disc which may be positioned so that the disc edgewhich normally constitutes the trailing edge becomes the leading edge toseparate the folded signatures at the opposite corner of the feedingside of the pile. The disc is driven in a reverse direction and performsidentically with that just described, except that the suckers must nowbe arranged to grip the lowermost signature from a different corner. Theleading and trailing edges of the disc are inverted under thiscondition. The disc may be a single bi-directional disc, or may be twodifferent discs which have specially-constructed portions which enablethem to be substituted for one another and driven in one direction orthe other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawing wherein likereference numerals indicate like parts in the various views:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in cross section, looking in thedirection in which signatures are fed along a gathering machine.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the mechanism of FIG. 1,illustrating a first modification of the invention in which a singledisc may be used for feeding either standard folded or gate-foldedsignatures.

FIG. 3 is a view taken substantially along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the principal elements of the inventionillustrating two stations from which signatures are fed, one as agate-fold and the other as a standard fold.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view illustrating a second modification ofthe invention in which two different discs are replaceable and aredriven in opposite directions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vertically-arranged stack (10of horizontally-lying folded signatures is located within a hopper 11.The hopper has side, front and rear walls, as well as a bottom platewhich supports the primary area of the stack except in a given areaadjacent a rotary disc separator 12. As discussed in parent U.S.application Ser. No. 45,010, the disc 12 is adapted to physicallyseparate signatures one at a time from the bottom of the stack 10 andpresent them to grippers 13 carried by a drum 14 which is mounted on ashaft -15 for rotation in timed relationship with the disc 12.

The shaft 15 is also timed with a conveyor chain 16 (see FIG. 4).Signatures carried by the grippers 13 are dropped onto a table alongwhich the conveyor 16 runs,

whereby signatures at different stations are assembled and registered ina loose assembly, after which they are carried to a binding section (notshown) in which they may be glued along one edge for making into abooklet or the like. The disc 12 is driven from the shaft 15 by means ofa toothed timing belt 17 which runs between toothed pulleys 18 and 19,the latter of which is fastened to a shaft 20.

A gear box 21 journals one end of the shaft 20, and is mounted to beadjustably positioned on a frame portion 22 of the mechanism. The gearbox is made up of a lower plate 23 and an inverted housing 24. Thehousing 24 contains a pair of bevel drive gears 25 and 26, only one ofwhich at any given time is adapted to mesh with a bevel driven gear 27connected to a shaft 28 to which the disc 12 is fastened. As shown inFIG. 1, bevel gear 26 is in mesh with gear 27 and is adapted to rotatethe disc 12 in a direction to separate signatures with the standard foldon the right hand side of FIG. 1.

The gear box 21 and its contents are adapted to be adjustable betweenthe dotted-line position and the fullline position in FIG. 1 toaccommodate different-width gate-folded signatures. When in thedotted-line position, the disc 12 will be driven in the directionopposite from that shown in full lines, and is therefore adapted toseparate signatures by entering from the left front corner of the stack10. In this latter arrangement, bevel gear 25 will be placed into meshand bevel gear 26 will be withdrawn from mesh with gear 27. This isaccomplished by removing a C-shaped collar 29 from its position on theshaft 20 shown in FIG. 1, sliding the bevel gear 26 rightwardly until itengages the side of the housing 24, and inserting the collar 29 betweenthe gear 25 and the left-hand side of the housing 24. Both bevel gears25 and 26 are provided with set screws for locating them in positionalong the shaft. The shaft and gears are further provided with keys andkeyway to maintain their proper angular position on shaft 20.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the periphery of the disc12 has an interrupted portion defined by a leading edge 30 and trailingedge 31. A bottom hopper plate 32 supports the principal portion of thestack, leaving an opening between the edge of the plate 32 and a frontwall 33 of the hopper. The lower portion of the front wall 33 and thecorner areas of the sidewalls of the hopper are open to permit entranceof the disc into the signature stack, as well as to permit a pin 34 tobe intermittently placed in engagement with the signatures by a cam 35and removed therefrom by a return spring 36. As described in theaforementioned co-pending application Ser. No. 45,010, the purpose ofthe pin 34 is to reduce the weight and thus the friction of thesignatures resting upon the upper surface of the rotary disc. Camssurfaces 37 and 38 are provided on the underside of the disc 12, toenable separated signatures to be physically pushed into position to bereceived by the grippers 13 as can be noted in FIG. 3.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the disc 12 is adapted to be drivencounterclockwise for separating standard-fold signatures at the side ofthe hopper at which leading edge 30 of the disc has just entered. Inthis case cam surface 37 performs the entire function of moving theseparated signature to the grippers 13, it being understood of coursethat the corner of the lowermost signature was first pulled downwardlyby suckers 40. The suckers are carried on a pivoted arm to move up anddown in timed relationship with the remainder of the machine. One of thesuckers 40 enters into the space provided by the interrupted portion ofthe disc, in order to get the corner downwardly shortly after thetrailing edge 31 passes the location of the sucker, whereupon the suckeris then pivoted down prior to entrance of the leading edge 30 into thespace provided between the bottom two signatures. For best results inseparating complete signatures, it is V desired that the leading edgeenter into the stack of signatures at the folded side, slightly inwardlyof the corner of the stack, which in this case is located at point A inFIG. 2.

When it is desired to utilize the disc 12 to separate gate-foldedsignatures, it is necessary (unless feeding small signatures) toreposition the shaft 28 and its disc and drive mechanism, change thedirection of the disc 12 to clockwise rotation, and make certain thatthe edge 31 (which was formerly the trailing edge but is now the leadingedge of the clockwise rotating disc) enters the stack 10 at the oppositecorner of the stack. Cam 35 may be timed differently in order toaccomplish the insertion and withdrawal of pin 34 as desired. When edge31 becomes the leading edge, the cam surface 38 performs the function ofphysically moving the lowermost separated signature into the range ofoperation of the grippers 13 on the drum 14. Obviously, the suckers 40must be positioned adjacent the corner being separated by the edge 31,so as to pull down the lowermost signature when permitted to do so bythe gap in the disc 12, for entrance of the edge 31 into the corner ofthe stack.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the chain conveyor 16 haspusher pins which collect assemblies of the signatures for making theminto the book, after which they may be bound by gluing. It is to beunderstood that several signature stations are normally provided, onlytwo being shown herein for purposes of illustrating separation ofstandard-folded and gate-folded signatures. In the first location inFIG. 4, signatures which are to become gate-folds in the final book areprovided in the stack and are separated by disc 12 while rotating in aclockwise direction on its vertical axis. The folds in this case are atthe left side of the stack, as can be seen from the signature 51 whichhas been dropped in position to be engaged by one of the pins 50 ofconveyor 16. Standardfolded signatures in the second hopper areseparated from the bottom by a disc 12 rotating in the counterclockwisedirection. It will be noted that the signature deposited on the conveyor16 by the drum from the second stack has come to rest on top of agate-fold 51. As shown, the rightward edges of the assembled signatureswill be bound, it being understood that the gate-folded signature hasone flap' of lesser width than the other to prevent its being bound withthe remainder of the booklet. In this fashion, the gate-folded signature51 can be opened from the face of the book as an enlarged page.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention in which,instead of using a single bi-directional disc 12, a pair ofopposite-hand discs and 61 are used, either one of which can besubstituted for the other when converting between standard-fold andgate-fold signatures. Disc 60 is provided with a cam surface 62 on itsunderside, adjacent leading edge 63. Edge 63 is shown in this embodimentas being pointed for enabling easier entrance of the leading edge 63into the pile. Likewise, disc 61 has a cam surface 64 adjacent theleading edge 65 of the disc 61. It will be noticed that the suckers 40have been positioned on opposite edges of shaft 66, so that theyfunction adjacent the corner to be separated. It will be seen that thetwo discs 60 and 61 are offset in a horizontal direction in the machineby the dimension X, which of course can vary with the dimension of thesignatures betwen the folded edges of the standard and gate-folds. Thisenables the handling of a wide variety of signature sizes and is madepossible through use of a disc which is of sufiicient diameter toprovide substantial support for the bottom of the pile along whicheveredge is separated. It further enables the use of a common drivingmechanism for the disc separator, whether it is in the form of a singlebi-directional disc, or a pair of replaceable discs which are dirven inopposite directions.

While the invention has been described with reference to certainspecific embodiments, neither the illustrated embodiments nor theterminology employed in describing them is intended to be limiting;rather, it is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. In a separator for folded signatures wherein the bottom signature ofa stack of horizontally-lying signatures is initially separated at acorner adjacent the fold therein, and wherein the separator is adaptedto separate signatures from either of two corner edges which define afeeding side of said stack,

relatively flat rotary disc means substantially coplanar with the bottomof the stack and rotatable on an axis generally parallel with the corneredges of said stack, said disc means having a circular periphery and aninterrupted portion therein, the extent of the interrupted portion andthe position of said disc means relative to the feeding side of saidstack being such that at all times at least a portion of the circularperiphery is within the feeding side of said signature stack so as toprovide support for said stack along said side,

a hopper aligning the sides of said stack and supporting the principalarea of the bottom of said stack except in the area of entrance of thedisc means into said feeding side, said hopper having the side andcorners thereof adjacent the disc means near the bottom of the stackopen for entrance thereinto of said disc means in either one of twodifferent rotational directions depending on the location of the foldsin the signatures of said stack,

transporting means below the stack for receiving signatures separated bysaid disc means and carrying them away from said stack,

grasping means acting on the bottom signature of the stack, saidgrasping means being operable to reach from below through theinterrupted portion of the disc means to pull the folded corner of eachsignature downwardly in turn, whereby further rotation of said discmeans causes its circular periphery to enter the space between thegrasped signature and the next adjacent signature,

means for operating said grasping means in timed relation with discrotation to separate one signature from the stack at each discrevolution,

disc drive means including means for reversing the direction of rotationof said disc means, and

means for selectively positioning the axis of rotation of said discmeans whereby the circular periphery of the disc means may enter fromeither of said corner edges.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said disc means comprisesa single disc which is utilized for rotation in either of saiddirections.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said disc means comprisesa pair of replaceable discs, one for each direction, and

cam means on the underside of the periphery of each disc adjacent theinterrupted portion on that side first to enter the stack, said cammeans physically forcing a separated signature within the reach of saidtransporting means.

4. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said grasping means isadjustably positionable to operate near either corner edge of the stack.

5. In a signature gatherer having at least two substantially verticalstacks of horizontally-lying signatures, a separator for bottom-feedingof folded signatures from each stack, a conveyor travelling in asubstantially horizontal path below said stacks and arranged to receivesignatures in serial fashion whereby to make an assembly of signaturesto be bound, the signatures in one of said stacks having their foldededges parallel to said path and along one side of its stack and thesignatures in the other of said stacks having their folded edgesparallel to said path but along the opposite side of its stack, whereby,when said assembly 6 is subsequently bound along one of its foldededges, the other folded edge will remain unbound, and transporting meansadjacent the bottom of each stack for receiving separated signaturestherefrom and presenting them to said conveyor,

each separator comprising:

relatively flat rotary disc means substantially coplanar with the bottomof each stack and rotatable on an axis generally parallel with thecorner edges of said stack, said disc means having a circular peripheryand an interrupted portion therein, the extent of the interruptedportion and the position of said disc means relative to the adjacentside of said stack being such that at all times at least a portion ofthe circular periphery is within said stack so as to provide support forsaid stack along said side,

a hopper aligning the sides of each stack and supporting the principalareas of the bottom of said stack except in the area of entrance of thedisc means into said stack, said hopper having the side and at least onecorner thereof adjacent the disc means near the bottom of the stack openfor entrance thereinto of said disc means,

suction gripper means acting on the bottom signature of each stackadjacent the corner being separated by said disc means for grasping thebottom signature and pulling it downwardly within the reach of saidtransporting means,

means for operating said gripper means in timed relation with the discrotation to separate one signature from the stack at each discrevolution, and

drive means for driving the disc means for each stack in oppositedirections.

6. The invention set forth in claim 5 wherein the drive means for atleast one of said disc means is reversible.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6 wherein the disc means driven bysaid reversible drive means comprises a single disc which is utilizedfor rotation in either of two directions, and wherein a pair of camsurfaces are provided on the peripheral underside of the disc, oneadjacent each side of the interrupted portion.

8. The invention set forth in claim 6 wherein the disc means driven bysaid reversible drive means comprises a pair of opposite-hand removablediscs each with a single cam surface on its underside adjacent that edgenearest the interrupted portion first to enter the corner of the stack,said cam surfaces extending peripherally for a distance sufficient toforce signatures within the reach of the transporting means.

9. The invention set forth in claim 6 including means for horizontallyrepositioning the axis of rotation of said disc means.

10. The invention set forth in claim 5 wherein said disc means comprisea pair of opposite-hand removable discs each with a single cam surfaceon its underside adjacent that edge nearest the interrupted portionfirst to enter the corner of the stack, said cam surfaces extendingperipherally for a distance sufficient to force signatures within thereach of the transporting means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,709,857 4/ 1929 Kleineberg27129 1,794,198 2/1931 Murray 271-29 X 2,020,321 11/1935 Kleineberg270--56 3,045,867 7/1962 Flynn 271-29 X EVON C. BLUNK, Primary ExaminerB. H. STONER, JR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 271-9, 41

